Mysterious Stranger
by Crazilyinsanelady
Summary: After 2 years of waking up to flowers on her doorstep every day, Sakura Haruno has got it in for whoever keeps annoying her with those prickly roses. After all, even cherry blossoms can have thorns. INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. In Which There Is Some Loneliness

Sorry about the weird size change, it does that whenever i copy and paste on this damn computer...

Disclaimer- I did not create, make, sell, or have anything to do with the creation of this anime/manga. It belongs to Mishashi (sp?) Kishimoto. Translation - me no own...

* * *

"I'm perfectly serious Ino-pig! I'm going to find out who's been leaving flowers on my doorstep during the night for the past.." The pink-haired girl trailed off while she counted on her fingers.

"What?" Ino agitatedly swung her hair over her shoulder, causing the two boys walking past the cafe where they were sitting to fall down in shock."You mean for like, the past 2 1/2 freaking years?"

"Ino-pig don't be so mean to those boys, stop encouraging them! They haven't got a chance in hell with you!" Sakura was looking at the guys still laying in the middle of the road, dazed.

The pretty blonde girl, Ino stood up and said, "So we're staking out with Hinata tonight at your house then?"

"Yeah." Sakura muttered distantly.

Ino snapped her fingers in front of the other girls face. "Snap out of it Sakura! No spacing out untill we find out who your mysterious stalker is!"

"Wha- Oh, right..." Sakura shook her head and stood up too. "I'll see you at seven then Ino-pig?"

"Hai." Ino turned and walked out of the cafe, stepping over the two boys, STILL laying on the road, she made her way down the street towards Hinata's apartment. _I wonder where Naruto is right now... He was supossed to meet us there. I guess he and Hinata... got hung up doing something..._ She smirked. _I wonder what..._

_XXXXXXXXX_

**With Sakura**

Sakura stepped over the two boys laying in the middle of the road and walked the opposite direction from Ino. _Geez, I wonder where Hinata and Naruto dissapeared to. They were supossed to meet us there at 1:30. I hope that they didn't run into I trouble.._

Sakura walked down the road to naruto's house. She peeked in the window to the kitchen and caught a glimpse of something in the living room.

Stretching up to better see the brief flash she saw Naruto and Hinata making out on the couch. She stiffled a giggle._ So that's why they didn't show up._ (A/N - HAHAHAHA!)

_I wonder what I'm doing wrong… _Sakura slipped away from the window and continued her lonely stroll down the empty street that she'd be on so many times.

_All of the others have boyfriends… What about me? Am I still not good enough for anyone? _A picture of Rock Lee suddenly popped into her head.

_He doesn't count you know… _

**_Damn right he doesn't count! His fucking eyebrows are almost as big as the rest of his head! PLUS he's a retard! _**

Sakura scowled while she battled with her inner thoughts. _Yeah, but he's still nice, even if he is annoying most of the time. And have you already forgotten what he did for us in the Forest of Death during the Chunin exams?_

Sakura could literaly feel her inner-self smirk.**_ Oh,_** her inner-self crowed with the delight of rudely contradicting her and shoving something in her face.**_ but you're forgetting who rescued us aren't you dobe?_**

****

_Shut up! You and I both know that Sasuke only rescued me because I was one of his teammates! He feels nothing for me, nothing at all..._

****

**_WhatEVER girl! You're never gonna get a boyfriend with that attitude!_**

****

Sakura felt herself wince. _Shut the fuck up! You don't even know what you're talking about! Leave Me ALONE!_

**_Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah. FINE! BYE!_**

****

_Stupid, fucking... _

She reached the door to her apartment and pulled out her key. After unlocking the door, she let herself in before falling face first into the pink couch that dominated the living room.

"Urggg. Why don't I have a boyfriend already? Why can't they just appear out of thin air, right in front of you? Why?"

Slowly she drifted off to sleep, not noticing the dark figure lurking just outside of the window. Suddenly, the figure turned and jumped down from the ledge, and sped across the rooftops. but not before a bit of red was visable on the cloak the mysterius person was wearing draped aroud their shoulders.


	2. In Which Neji Gets Caught

Okay! Here's the second chapter of Mysterious Stranger!

And a great big thank you to , FakeCompassion, my very first reviewer for this story! Yayness!!! -gives cookies-

Disclaimer: Although I'm crazy, I (sadly) don't own Naruto.

(Because if I did Sasuke wouldn't of left Konoha, Itachi would be stupider, (and more perverted), than Jiraya, and nobody would think Kakashi was gay!)

In case you haven't figured it out by now, or forgot to read the note in the first chapter, _**TELL ME WHO YOU THINK HER STALKER IS, AND WHO YOU WANT IT TO ACTUALLY BE!!! **_Ok, I'm done now… TO THE STORY!!!

(Fanfare plays)

* * *

'Ding-Dong' "YO! FOREHEAD!"

"Argg!" Sakura fell off of the couch and landed face-first on the floor.

_Why does my life suck? What've I ever done to deserve this? _

She lifted an arm up and used the couch to raise herself into a sitting position.

"Sakura! Are you in there? Hell-O-o? Sakura Haruno, GET YOUR ASS over to the front door NOW!!"

Sakura groaned at the sound of her friend's abnormally loud voice.

"Ino-pig, shut up already, I'm coming! God, do you ever stop yelling!"

_**Just tell the damn fucktard to get the hell out of here; I'm not done sleeping yet.**_

_Sadly, for once I actually agree with you._

Sakura stood up and winced when her back popped.

_Ouch… Well, that's what I get for sleeping on the couch again._

"SAKURA!" Ino whined, "Let me in!"

_Uh oh. She really shouldn't of said tha-__**FUCK OFF BITCH! **_Her inner-self began to unmercifully beat up a chibi Ino inside her head.

Sakura moaned and rubbed her head. _Great… another problem to deal with._

She stood up and made her way to the door. _I wonder how long I was asleep? What time is it?_

Turning her head, her eyes caught sight of the clock. 7_:35, I was out for 5 hours. Whoops! didn't mean to do that!_

Just as she got to the door it flew of its hinges and fell to the floor. _Wonderful! Now I need a new front door too!_

"Ino-pig! What the hell did you do that for?" Sakura could feel her inner-self beginning to steam at the ears.

"Well," Ion cheekily smiled. "I got tired of waiting for you to haul your shit over here to the front door, so I busted the damn door down to see if you were busy making out with and/or having sex with mysterious man upstairs in your room or not! Perfectly understandable explanation, don't you think?"

Ino strolled past Sakura, who was standing (with fists clenched) in the middle of the hallway, ready to punch her.

_**Cha! You're gonna pay for that you pork-butt bitch! **_

_Will you EVER leave me alone! _

_**No. Why should I? **_

_Because you annoy me like hell sometimes!_

_**Yeah, but I know you better than almost anybody else.**_

_Do you have a point, or are you just trying to annoy me again/_

_**Both.**_

_Go. Away. Now._

_**Fine. Leaving!**_

_Finally!_

Ino's voice echoed from the living room. "Hey Forehead-girl! Where did you put the mini camera we're going to set up in the window?"

Sakura turned and stomped to the room the overly-enthusiastic blonde was tearing apart everything in reach to find the camera.

"It's. Right. There." She pointed sharply to a shelf on the opposite side of the room.

Ino grabbed the small camera and set it down in the window while Sakura sat down on the chair a few feet away.

"Sooo." Ino dragged out the word when she was done setting up the black camera on the windowsill.

"Who do you think Mr. Mysterious Man is?"

Sakura glanced at Ino, who was leaning towards her, intent of prying info out of her. She shrugged. "No idea."

Ino sat down in the other chair. "Really forehead-girl, or are you just saying that to try and convince me that you don't know who it actually is, or do you actually NOT know who it is, and are trying to convince me otherwise? But if you DID know who it is you would tell me. So you don't. UNLESS he told you not to tell me! But then you probably WOLD anyway since you know that this shit's been bothering me like hell too. So you DON'T!" Ino paused, then her face lit up.

"So you DO know who it is. I'm right!" She punched the air with her fist.

Sakura sweat-dropped. W_hat sense does that make?_

**_NONE!_**

_GO AWAY!_

**_Geez! BYE!_**

"Ino..." Sakura trailed off into the air.

"Yeah?"

"I DON'T actually know who it is..."

"Oh." Ino's arm dropped back onto the windowsill. "You sure about that?"

"M-hm. Yeah."

They lapsed into silence.

Ino's eye twitched. "SSSSOOOOOO..."

Sakura raised her head and looked out the window. Her jaw dropped open, then she began to laugh hysterically.

"What?" Ino raised her eyebrow in confusion.

_Oh. My. GOD! What the fuck! Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Now THAT'S embarassing!_

"WHAT?" Ino looked out the window to see what she was laughing about.

"Do you see him?" Sakura managed to gasp out.

Ino squinted her eyes and burst out, "What the hell am I supposed to be seeing out there?"

"Look." Sakura whispered. "I'll record it on the camera, so you can find it." _Ohhhh! this will be so good for blackmailing him! What a stroke of luck!_

Slowly and carefully, she redirected the small camera at the crazy scene currently being played out in the park across the street. "There. In the pond. See it now?"

Ino gazed blankly at the tiny screen on the side. When she finally saw it, her blue eyes widened considerably.

"Ohhhh. Now I get it!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

(13 minutes later)

Sakura and Ino were still looking at the screen and stifling their giggles, lest the person across the road see them and stop their current activity.

"Oh my god Ino! This will be ssooo good for blackmail and torture. Won't it?"

"Yeah. Totally!" She nodded.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"You remember last year when Sasuke got back right?"

"Uh, yeah! How could I not?" She glared at her, ready to kick her in the leg, hard!

"Well you remember how Naruto went all weird when Tsunade-"

Ino interrupted her, "WEIRDER than usual."

"Whatever, he started hugging everybody right?"

"Sheesh, I still can't belive he did that. I had to throw out my best jacket after that day.. He wiped dirt all over me with his disgusting hugging method."

"Do you remember when he hugged Choji and Tenten at the same time and squished them together?"

"I repeat; How could I not?"

"I have that on DVD. Want to watch it later?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Well?"

Ino giggled. "You are so weird."

Sakura straightened up and tried to look somewhat royalish. "I'll take that as a compliment!"

"Sure..." Ino rolled her eyes.

"WHAT!" Sakura yelled

Just then, hearing her voice, the person in the park turned around and stared at them.

"Aggggg! HIDE SAKURA!" Ino screamed in her ear.

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO TELL ME THAT! LOCK ALL THE WINDOWS AND DOORS! HE CAN'T BREAK IN IF HE DOESN'T WANT OT PAY 40,000 BUCKS IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"

The two of them began to run frantically around the house and close all the windows, doors, and seal up all the vents.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

(2 1/2 minutes later)

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Finally, all the exits and entrances were sealed tightly against the possible invader.

"Done.

"Done."

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other before falling on the ground by her TV.

"Well," Sakura panted. "that was interesting."

"Glahhh." Ino made a strangled noise in the back of her throat.

"Rule one: Always stay in a group for the next week or so untill the anger level dies down a bit. Otherwise... he might just kill us tomorrow."

Ino got her breath back and muttered, "Yeah. He's definitly going to kill us anyway though."

"Still," Sakura laughed. "I can't believe we caught Neji skinny dipping in the pond."

* * *

I'm so sorry I just, You know HAD to make Neji do something stupid. Next xhapter will be out in a week or two maybe less if i have less homework..

Ciao 4 now, DON'T FORGET TO TELL ME WHO YOU WANT HER STALKER TO BE!

--- CrazilyInsaneLady


	3. In Which is Inportant Author Note 1

OMFG! I am sssooo sorry for not updating for so long. I'll update by Christmas, I PROMISE I will. Finals are coming up and I have to study, and study, and study. and I haven't had anytime to update. I almost have the whole chappie typed up though. Mycomputer still won't let me upload it though...

Arg.

Drowning in Finals,

--- Crazilyinsanelady


	4. In Which There is a Debate

Okay, I'm so fucking sorry for the slow update!!! My brother messed up the computer, and I couldn't upload for a while… BLAME HIM!!! I've started calling him Ton-ton, like Hex from CurseAndHex, calls her little brother. She thinks he's gay. Anyway here's Chapter 3 peoples!

Disclaimer: Naruto and all it's characters belong to their true creator; Mashashi Kishimoto-sama, not me. I only own this keyboard that I'm typing on right now. And the only thing it's actually good for is typing and hitting my brother on the head. Haha! My life sucks! Damn you Mrs. Bedwell!!! (That was to make Curse (And) Hex feel better… smiles sheepishly

REVIEW AND TELL ME WHO YOU THINK SHOULD BE HER STALKER!

AND WHY!

PLEASE!

If I don't get _**at least three**reviews by New Years, I'm going to discontinue it and post my other story that I've been working on feverishly when I can't get on the internet!_

_YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!_

_Todays Interesting Fact: Even when you aren't actually doing anything, you are having **sex**. –insert your look of shock and gasp here- When your cells reproduce, they have asexual reproduction. ANNNNNNNNNNNNND, since your cells are reproducing by at least 40,000 cells a second, that's just like having sex with 40,000 different boyfriends at one time!!!_

_Yay weird facts!_

_(But still **EWWWWWW!)**_

Chapter Three

(In Which There is a Shocking Picture)

Sakura and Ino were still sitting on the floor panting and laughing after running all around the house frantically closing all the windows and doors against the furious Neji.

"Oh my God! I can't believe we just –giggle- recorded that!" Ino stood up before falling back into the chair behind her.

"I know! It was freaking hilarious!" Sakura laughed and pulled herself up onto the couch. "And in the middle of Konoha too!" Ino added with an amused grin on her face.

The two girls fell into a hysterical giggling fit for a few minutes.

"Hey, Sakura?" Ino sat up clumsily with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Hm?"

"How often do you think he does that?..." Sakura's mouth fell open in surprise.

"What?" They both paused.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"CHECK THE SECURITY CAMERA!!! QUICK!!!" Sakura and Ino stampeded to the kitchen. Sakura grabbed her laptop began to rapidly type on it. Impatiently, the other female was tapping her foot on the light wooden floor and trying to look over the top of the computer. "Well? Did he? Damn it, answer me forehead-girl! NOW!"

Sakura turned the screen around so her friend could view it. Silently, they watched the four previous night's worth of video, mostly Neji.

Again and again they rewound the tape and watched him look carefully around the pond before stripping like he was one of the more-accomplished-super-popular-with-the-gay-guys porno-artists straight out of one of Jiraya's icky perverted books, then sliding into the dark water and submerging up to his nose with his long black hair fanning out behind him on top of the water, like some kind of strange tail thing. It made him, in their opinion, look like a shark hunting for its prey in the dead of night.

_"_Ha-ha! –giggle- Hey Ino, he's imitating salmon-shit!"

"Wow…. If he turned his head blue, and made his hair stick up, he probably COULD pass for the fish-idiot… Oh kami…."

"…"

"…"

"…eww…"

"…"

"…what the hell is he doing now?"

"I think he's…"

"..Humping the tree…"

"Ouch."

xXxXxXx

Five minutes later Sakura slowly closed the laptop and twitched. "That was… interesting. Did we really need to know that?"

"No, but it was funny. You have to admit that much, don't you?" Ino walked over to the window and looked outside for anyone walking around who might be the stalker. Then she gestured to Sakura to come with her into the living room.

The two kunoichi went to the camera and adjusted it to point at the doorstep.

"And now we wait."

-silence_-_

**_This is boring! Let's go beat up random people walking on the street in the middle of the night!_**

_What? We can't do that, we'll get into trouble._

**_Hmph. Spoilsport._**

_At least I have a brain. _

**_At least I have guts._**

_Yeah, but it wasn't you who slapped Sasuke when he came back._

**_Yes, actually, it was me who slapped him. You were standing there to stricken to fucking move, so I did it for you. Hn._**

_Gah! No it wasn't. And stop using one syllable words; it reminds me of him…_

**_Hn. Fine. Leaving._**

_You do that Bitch._

**_Idiot. You just called your other half a bitch. Reeeeaaaaal smart. Living up to your big brains are you now? Idiot. Hn._**

**_-silence-_**

_"_Sakura? Do you wanna watch one of those super-awesomely-freakish-scary movies you have in your room?" Ino cheerfully smiled at her, oblivious to the furious conversation that had been going on inside her head.

Sakura nodded her head. "Sure. How about the new one that I bought yesterday? The one that came out last week."

"You mean the weird one about the retarded zombie dude?"

"Yeah, that one."

"'kay."

xXxXx

_Thanx to: All My wonderful reviewers who actually took the time to read the story and actually review, especially, CurseAndHex (For moral support and story ideas(!) and yes I will do my best to put the "I love playing my clarinet" thingy into my upcoming FXG oneshot. Which will hopefully be posted in the near future.),_

_Hex, (from above), will now be co-writing this story, and would like for me to ask if anyone would please read her story,_

_Mysterious Stranger._

_I've decided to post a password at the bottom from now on to check how many people actually read the beginning author notes._

_Password: cheese puffs_

_AND NOW….. MY POINTLESS REVIEW RANT!!!!_

_YAY!!!_

_REVIEW!!!!_

_You're still reading…_

_STILL reading…_

_HEY! Didn't I just tell you to review?!?_

_…_

_You haven't reviewed yet._

_Press the button._

_…_

_Press_

_The_

_Damn_

_Purple_

_Button_

_That_

_Says_

_Go_

_On_

_It!_

_…_

_Press it!_

_…_

_Press it now!_

_…_

_So what if I'm still typing!_

_Stop reading and press the review button already!_

_Fuck you!_

_Go away!_

_LEAVE!_

_NOW!_

_Okay, let's try some reverse psychology here._

_Nya, Nya!_

_Keep reading._

_…_

_Damnit._

_Reverse psychology doesn't work on you…_

_…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Damnit…_

_Fuck…_

_Ha-ha!_

_That one was different!_

_…_

_…._

_……………………………._

_……………………………………………….._

_…………………………………………………………………….._

_Sheesh._

_Oh, where's the review button you say?_

_Do I really have to point it out?_

_…_

_Stupid Asshole._

_I thought you were supposed to be smart…_

_Fine…._

_ # Ha, now you have to find it! laughs evilly Ha-ha-ha-ha!!!_


	5. In Which Notes Are Exchanged

Last chappie was mainly transitional. Sorry for not updating like I said I would!!! The comp. is acting up again….

* * *

I've decided to let anyone who either,

1. puts this story or me on their alert list

2. tells me a REALLY good plot idea or twist

or

3. or submits a REALLY GOOD REVIEW

ask me any question except a small few that i WILL NOT ANSWER like 'how does it end', or 'who will the stalker be' or something like that that would take all the fun out of this chapter.

* * *

Anyway, Three Days Grace is coming to my town in Feb.! Yay.. Must …get… tickets… drools while staring off into space

Today's Funny Fact: Funny word that Sakura uses in the manga ----

Lackadaisical lacking in spirit, (like Kakashi or Sasuke, not in battle) 0

Disclaimer: Me no own the total extreme awesomeness of Masashi Kishimoto's radical creation called Naruto…. Damn it, now I want to jump off a bridge…. !wah! And here's something for you all to wonder about too. I don't own Toys R Us either, or the clever name invention, or Frosted Flakes. Ha! Now you're probably wondering how the heck that fits into the story in this chapter. HA-HA-Ha-hA-ha-ha

Important _READ! _- Candidates For Stalker Who Have Been Ruled Out:

Gaara (sorry pairing luvers, I feel your pain, 'cause I love that pairing too…)

Rock Lee (but I do have funniness scene planned for an upcoming chappie of him and some other random fan boys of Sakura. Hee hee hee…)

Neji (quote 1st comment)

First Part of Password: -insert name of your least favorite Naruto character here-

Sorry to all the hopefuls out there who wanted the stalker to be one of those three. Neji is cool and all, but doesn't like her and Ino as much since he caught them spying on him in the lake-pond-thing-incident obviously…, Rock Lee's eyebrows and spandex obsession scare me (even though he's nice and I totally blame Guy-sensei for the whole spandex thing), and Gaara is to far away to be sending flowers to her every day/night. For goodness sake, he lives in Sunagakue! (sp?) Plus, he'd have to of gotten someone else to do it for him, and that would totally defeat the point of an entirely MYSTERIOUS stranger.

_Italic & underlined or__ just underlined are the notes/letters_

* * *

Presenting:

Chapter Four – In Which There Are Notes Exchanged

"Mnph"

"Wake u-Up…"

"'uck off…" (Fuck off.)

"Wake UP"

"'ou're a 'it-'ole" (You're a shit-hole.)

"WAKE UP NOW, DAMNIT!"

"Go 'way, …. 'itch…" (Go away, bitch.)

Sakura felt the blankets being lifted off of her head before she was exposed to the cold morning air. "Gah! Fuck you Ino-pig! Why'd you have to wake me up! I was having the most amazing dream…"

"This is why, idiot." Ino waved an envelope in her face. "I found it on the windowsill. Somebody broke the camera last night. Your stalker left you a note! It has your name on it! Wake UP and OPEN IT and READ it for God's sake!"

"Wah-What! He-he did? Give it!" Sakura grabbed the note out of her hand and ripped it open. She paused. "Did you read it already, Ino?"

"No! NOW READ IT BEFORE I TIE YOU DOWN AND FORCE YOU TO DO SO." She glared.

"Reading, reading." The note read:

_"__Dear Sakura-chan,_

_Why are you trying so hard to find out who I am? It's not like I'll ever be able to tell you who I really am… sorry. I really wish I could, but you'd probably punch me and start crying… I don't know if I'd be able to stand myself if I made you cry again…. It's worse enough that every time I look into your __beautiful emerald __eyes I can tell__ you__ won't, can't ever love me_. _We can never truly ever be together. Fate forbids it to the deepest pits of hell. They do say though, opposites attract. Still though, I will always love you with all of my heart… Forever…. Though you will never see my true face._

_With__ all my__ love,_

_The One Who Loves You__ With A__ll His Heart"_

"Whoa… that was deep. He's practically a poet… what are you going to write back to him?" Ino swung her legs up onto the bed where Sakura was sitting among the messy covers. "… I don't know Ino… I just don't know…" _Who is he…?_

"Well, make up your mind quick. I have to leave for work in ten minutes." On that note, the blonde hopped off of the bed, grabbed her bag, and went into the bathroom to change out of her pajamas and into her uniform for her family's flower shop.

Quickly, Sakura glanced at her alarm clock. _Hmmmm. 10:34… I have until 11:45 to get a reply note written, and get ready for my shift at the hospital._ Her face brightened. _I get to see Keiko today!__ I hope she got better over the past few weeks!_ She turned around just as Ino bounded out of the bathroom, backpack in hand. "Well, see you later Sakura. I'd stay longer, but my mom would chew me out for being late again. –sigh- Tell me what you wrote back later?"

"Sure." Sakura replied absentmindedly. "Have you seen the DVD case around here?"

"I think we dropped it onto the floor when the zombie dude popped up with blood spurting out of the side of his head after his eye fell out and landed in the pile of the girl's intestines and vomit. Check under the bed. I've got to find Shika-kun before work. Bye!" Like a blonde whirlwind, she dashed out of the apartment.

_Glad that's over. Now, where's the stinking DVD case?_ She crouched down and peered under the bed. _Aha! There it is!_ She grabbed the DVD and stuck it back into the case, then walked over to her closet. _What to wear, what to wear… how about this? _

**_Nah. To shiny. No sequins.__ You might blind somebody.__ Remember the incident with Neji and Shikamaru? They were in the hospital for a week!_**

_Meanie. What about this one?__ It's pretty enough._ She picked up a red shirt with silver on the ends of the sleeves.

**_Better than the __boring __gray one. __And there's NO sequins! Try the faded jeans with that… let's see if we can give the receptionist a nosebleed again. YAY!_**

_Okie-dokey. One cool outfit coming up!_

(A/N: That… was so… corny! –runs away from reviewers with fiery pitchforks- Ha-ha you'll understand later.)

xXxXxXx

After she got dressed, Sakura slid down the stair rail to the kitchen to hunt down a bowl of cereal and a piece of paper to write on. Just then a random commercial came onto the TV.

TV Dude 1: (waves) Hey Bill, my cutting knives are all dull today. Do you know where I can find a good knife sharpener?

TV Dude 2: I sure do Sam! You should go to Tools R Us, and get their brand new tool sharpener! (picks up mutated-looking thing with a blade sticking out of the side.) It has two sides. One for knives, (turns sharpener over) and one for scissors!

TV Dude 1: WOW! Thanks Bill! I'm going to go and get one the next time I go out today! (pats Dude 2 on the back)

(both face camera with a cheesy smile on their face)

Both: Come buy it today, at your local Tools R Us!

-twitch-

"What the hell…?"

_**Phhhsh. Got that right. What the hell kind of name is Tools R Us? I mean, really…**_

_Whatever. __Fuck the commercial. __Fuck it with a pitchfork on fire. __Must, find, Frosted Flakes!__ Arggg!_

xXxXxXx (after paper is found and Frosted flakes are eaten) xXxXxXx

"Okay! I have a note to write!" Sakura whipped out a pen and sat down at her desk. _What should I write back to him? I don't really know what to say._

"What do I know about him? Let's see. I know that he said he's already made me cry. And he said that we're opposites. That narrows it down to about…every boy I know… What else? Ummmm. He's looked into my eyes before. That means that I definitely know him, or have met him at least once. I'm guessing that he lives in Konoha, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to leave me flowers almost every night." _Is there anything else that I've forgotten?_

**_Well idiot, we don't know if he's ninja or not, because he manages to leave a fucking lot of flowers. If he was a shinobi, he probably wouldn't be able to do that. Unless he uses a cloaking jutsu when he's gone to hide several bundles, and make one appear every night that he's not here. Still, the biggest question, in MY opinion, is if it's a member of your geeky fan-__club or not. So, we have a problem._**_** Obviously.** _

_Yeah. Damn right we do! But what to write?_

_**How about something like,**_

_**Dear Mysterious Stranger,**_

_**I want to find out who you are because you seem to like me a lot. I feel like I know you. Do I? **_

**_-Sakura __Haruno_**

"Okay! But I'm gonna edit that a little bit..." Sakura started to write on the paper.

_Dear Mysterious Stranger,_

_I would really like to find out who you are, because you seem to like me a lot. Sometimes I feel like I already know you__, just not that you're my so-called stalker. Do I? Also, did you HAVE to break my $10,000 newly-bought __camera?__ Just wondering…. Reply?_

_-Sakura __Haruno_

_**Yep, that'll work. Now look at the clock and spin into super-hyper-mode dumbbell, or you're going to be late for work again!**_

"Aggg! 11:43! RUN!" Sakura sprinted around the office, grabbing her things. With tote bag in hand she tore through the narrow hallway, and just barely remembered to set her reply note on the kitchen table. She was confident that he'd be able to get into her house and find it.

_All I have to do is get to work on time and I won't have __anything__ to worry about._

xXxXxXx

Oh how wrong she is…. –laughs evilly-

Now, in the next chapter I might do something really mean – hint Keiko-, but trust me it will all be good in the end. I now officially know where the plot is going with this story. Hex and I worked it out together a few days ago. So, unless we decide to make her have an aneurism or something, only WE, (and maybe Curse), know EXACTLY how it will end. The only thing left is to decide who her stalker is…… SO VOTE DAMNIT!!!!!!

**_If you want to be mentioned below in further chapters, give me__, ( NOTE: send it to MY email account, now that hex has access to it) a plot idea, twist, side-pairing idea, or VOTE!_**

Thanx to: All the awesome reviewers! Hex will now be co-writing this story, and would like for me to ask if anyone would please read (and review) her story one-shot , which is a SasuSaku angst-fic,

Wilting.

Password's second-half: is an idiot.

**End Author Note**

Sam: Hey Bill, Now that the chapter is over I want to tell the author what I like about this story, and who I want the stalker to be. What should I do?

Bill: Click the review button! Hooray!


	6. In Which There Is Crying

**Once and yet again, I would like to apologize for the late update. ****(AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!) ****One thing I would like to say is that a few people have asked me in PMs if the stalker is going to be Itachi Uchiha. Hex and I would like to clear that up right now by saying that, no he's not the STALKER, but he WILL be INVOLVED later in the story. ****–****Hint-****read end author note-hint-**

**–poor, poor Sakura…**** she doesn't get to meet him… yet.****-**

**Any way.. so, yeah. Disclaimer: ****I****, Hex, Sam, Bill, and Bob do not own ****Naruto, SpongeBob, or our own lives****. We merely ****sway ****the plot themes to fit our own twisted ideas…**** ;0**** After all, I, -ahem- WE are**** Crazy!**

**Bob: Yeah, CRAZILYINSANE!**

**I Will TRY to make this chapter at least 5 pages long**** or 2,000 words long****…. Maybe.**** –laughs weakly-**

**Password Part One:**** I like …**

**:-) **

**And now, the long awaited, (I think), chapter! YAY TO REVIEWERS!****THIS MEANS YOU!**

Chapter 5: In Which There Is Crying

**xXxXxXx**

Sakura was currently jumping over the roof-tops to get to the hospital on time.

_Damn Inner… Why couldn't you have warned me sooner! ARG!_

_**Hey, don't drag me into this if you're late, will ya!**_

_It's your fault! Why shouldn't I drag you into this?_

_**Asshole!**_

_You just called your other half an asshole. Real smart! Now shut up before I run into a pole or something, or we'll be later than we are now!_

_**Fine, I will. Hmph!**_

"Whew! I'm not late!" Sakura gasped as she flew through the doors of the main office of the overly-large hospital. "Good morning Haruno-san!" A lady with short brown hair walked up to her and handed her a clipboard.

Sakura smiled at her. "Good morning Nina-san! How are you today?" "Fine, thank you. Your first patient is in room 121. Poor Kiba-san broke his leg." Sakura frowned. "-sigh- Again?" The girl blushed and nodded. "Apparently so miss."

"Ah, well, at least I'm usually here to heal him…. Again." Nina smiled, "Oh, and Tsunade-sama wants to see you by two 'o clock, in her office. Some others will be there too."

"Alrighty then, I'll see you later. Thanks for the schedule and the notice Nina-san!" The nurse threw a 'You're welcome' over her shoulder while she walked back to the front desk to flirt with the receptionist.

"Right. Now let's see here, who's next after Kiba-kun? Hmmm." Sakura flipped through the pages to look at her schedule for the day. On the second page, Sakura's eyes caught the name 'Utada, Keiko'.

_Yay! I hope she's doing better this time around. I think this is her final check-up too!_

_**Finally! I've been worried for that girl. **_

_Yeah, but she should be fine now._

_**M-hm. Let's go.**_

xXxXxXx

Sakura walked down the hall to room 121 to heal Kiba's leg…. Again. She knocked on the door and went in. "-sigh- Kiba-kun…." The shaggy-haired man on the bed smiled sheepishly. "Hi Sakura."

Sakura felt something pawing at her leg. She leaned over and patted the dog on the head. "Hello to you too Akamaru!" The dog 'arfed' and licked her hand. Sakura giggled as she walked over to the bed.

"So Kiba-kun, how'd you break it this time?" "I think I ran into a wall… but I'm not sure actually." Sakura hovered her hand over his leg to access the damage. "-sigh-" She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you didn't grab Hoshi's ass again?"

"…." Akamaru whined.

" I'll be taking that as a yes then… Idiot. Will you ever learn?"

"Hey!"

"Arf!"

"Well you are, so be quiet and let me concentrate!"

"….Fine."

Sakura began to shift her chakra into his leg.

xXxXxXx

(I decided to skip the healing process and crap and keep going on with the story.)

xXxXxXx

"Bye! Don't forget to take the medicine I gave you!"

"Bye Sakura! Thanks!"

"Arf, Arf!"

"If he doesn't take it, bite him Akamaru!"

"ARF!"

"OW!"

Laughing at her friend's playful antics, Sakura walked back down the hall until she reached room 132, where she paused at the sight of the white name slip with black printed numbers on it. The shiny brass room number plate glinted. _Yamanaka, Ino._ _Why is Ino here? Hm._

Sakura glanced down at her clipboard and flipped through the pages. "Huh. I'm supposed to see her a few appointments after Keiko. Weird, she hasn't gone on a mission or anything either. I wonder….. Oh well, I'll find out later."

She pondered what could've happened to her best friend while she made a few turns and walked up a flight of stairs. At the room Keiko was in, she knocked on the door and entered.

She was met by Keiko and her mother, with worried eyes. When she walked in, her mother jumped up and bowed. "Sakura-san! I'm glad you came! Keiko-chan hasn't been feeling well again… "

"All right, let's see what's wrong then. Ki-ki-chan?" The small girl looked up at her with wide eyes, puffy and red from crying. "My tummy hurts Sakura-san. –sniffle- It hur-urts!" A tear fell out of one of her big, brown eyes and dripped down her cheek, and she sniffled again.

"Really? Can I see?" Keiko nodded and her mother pulled down the covers. Sakura placed her hand on the girl's stomach and transferred some chakra into her through her skin.

Slowly, she shifted her chakra around her stomach area, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Then she found something. _W-what? How…? This can't be happening! Not again! DAMNIT! __WHY!_

"Mrs. Utada, may I see you outside for a moment please?" Sakura stood up and pulled the covers back over Keiko's stomach. Mrs. Utada looked up in deep confusion. "O-Of course, Sakura-san." The other woman stood up and followed her out.

"Stay in bed Ki-ki-chan."

"Yes, Sakura-san."

"What is this about Sakura-san? Is she hurt again? Did it come back?" her mother pleaded while Sakura led her to conference room #8. "Please calm down Mrs. Utada. I can't actually tell you until we reach the conference room. Please be patient."

Once they were settled into the hard, red office chairs, Sakura began to tell her about her daughter's condition from behind the desk.

"What?" Mrs. Utada whispered. "It came back?"

"Yes, this time it's spreading towards her lungs from her liver and stomach. There's no stopping it this time. I'll try to lengthen her time by forcing it back every few days, and I'll even teach some of the other medics the procedure in case I'm on a mission or am killed, but I can't make any guarantees. I'd give her about a year before it becomes an issue to her health. I'm so sorry that this is inevitable. I don't want it to happen either… " Sakura folded her hands and rested her chin on them, closing her eyes to think.

xXxXxXx

When they reached the room, the two were surprised to find Keiko watching SpongeBob on the television in the right corner of the room. She was softly giggling at the sight of Patrick and SpongeBob running around with sparkly purple trash cans on their heads inside the kitchen, because they foolishly believed that it would protect them from the evil Sea-bear outside the window. Needless to say, it didn't work.

"K-Keiko-chan?" Keiko turned at the sound of her mother's wobbly voice.

"Ka-san? Is something wrong? What happened?" Keiko moved her hand, as if she was about to flip the covers off of herself and rush over to her mother. Before she did, Mrs. Utada rushed over to the bed as if she thought that her daughter only had minutes left, not months, before the incurable illness took its full toll on her body.

"Ka-san?" Her mother flung herself at her daughter and swept her up in an emotional hug. "Oh, oh. I c-can't b-believe that t-this h-h-happened to you a-again! Oh you poor, poor thing!" Mrs. Utada began to cry in earnest, struck by the fact that, probably, within three years she wouldn't have any children left to take care of, in her house.

Her eldest, Saki, was 17, and moving out next year, since he felt 'babied' because he'd already become a Chunin, and didn't want to be seen, (or embarrassed), by his blubbering mother.

Her youngest, Shin, was only 3 when she was killed in a freak explosion a few years ago. Her husband was killed protecting Keiko during the very same accident.

Keiko had just turned 7, but survived, unlike her sister and father. She was now 9 ½, but her mother would not let her join the ninja academy because of her weakness. She was all her mother would have left if Saki was killed too.

It was a few years later when Keiko had acquired the disease. Apparently, she had inhaled some of the lead dust that had, along with hairspray and a lighter, had caused the bus to explode into bits and pieces of flying white-hot metal and had resulted in the accident that killed her father and sister.

Glass shards had been found in her right leg and arm, and her lungs and liver were severely damaged, and had begun to falter in doing their jobs correctly. When they found out that the lead dust was usually fatal, they had tried everything to get her well again. Eventually, they brought Keiko to her because of her reputation with the medics, and after a while they all thought that she was cured.

This would have been her last monthly examination in two years, and she would've only had to come in for a shot and check-up every five months. It was tragic.

_So tragic…_

_**Yeah… I feel so sorry for her and her mother.**__** Maybe we can try to cure it again? **_Inner Sakura asked hopefully.

_No. We both know that it will only cause her more emotional pain then to just leave her alone for the time that she has left. _

_**I guess so… I wish we could save her.**_

_But we aren't…. _

Sakura sighed in defeat. "I'll leave you two alone together. My condolences Keiko-chan, Mrs. Utada-san." Stepping out into the hall Sakura noticed that she had almost ran into a tall figure, taller than her, standing by the doorway.

She looked up, and smiled sadly. "Saki-san. Hello, how are you?"

"I'm fine, how is she? I got home from my mission, straight from the Hokage's office, and there was a note on the table saying that they'd gone to the hospital and for me to come as soon as I could to cheer Keiko-chan up since she doesn't really like it up here. Well?" The brown-eyed man asked worriedly, seeing her solemn expression.

Sakura replied simply, "It came back."

"Oh."

"…"

"May I see her?"

"Yes, but please don't stay too long. Tell your mother also, you guys need to leave by 9:00 tonight. Okay?"

"Alright. It was nice to see you again, even if is under these circumstances."

"It was nice to see you too, Saki-san. I'll see you later then. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Sakura-san."

As she brushed past him, her arm touched his, and she thought that she detected a slight blush on his tan cheeks.

_Must be my imagination._

_We're only friends because I __helped K__eiko through her illness_

_**I think we've got you another admirer, girl! Whoo!**_

_No idiot, we're only friends._

_**Just sayin'. I'm just sayin'… But he is one **__**smoking-**__**hot dude.**_

_Shut up!_

_**Bite me!**_

_Asshole. GO. AWAY. NOW._

_**FINE! I'm LEAVING!**_

_Good!_

_**Hmph!**_

_Now let's see, who'__s next on the list? Ah! Kakashi got himself poisoned again… the idiot. Well, up the stairs we go!_

Sakura walked up the stairs slowly, trying to digest the fact that Keiko's problem had come back, but worse this time. When she reached the ward that her list said he was in, she strolled down the hall, listening and replying to the good-natured chatter of the others.

"Good morning Haruno-san!"

"Good morning! How's your son doing?"

"Fine thank you. See you later!"

The other doctors and nurses all seemed to know her, and she knew most of them too. Most of them said 'Hello' to her in the hallway.

"Hello Haruno-san!"

"Good morning Sakura-san!"

"How are you today?"

"Have you seen Hoshi Haruno-san? Kiba-san is looking for her again. Shall I tell him where she is?"

"No, let him figure it out on his own for once."

"Yes, Haruno-san. Thank you."

When she finally reached the room her former sensei was in, she paused at the door, seeing a nurse standing there, apparently waiting for her.

"Yes?"

"Haruno-san, Hatake-san will not let us treat his wounds! He said he would only let you do it…"

"Okay, thank you Hoshi-san."

The nurse turned, but Sakura pulled her back. "If I were you Hoshi-san, I'd not go outside. Unless you want a certain love-sick puppy grabbing your ass and begging to be petted again. Hm?"

Hoshi blushed and murmured, "Thank you for the warning Sakura-san. I'll be sure to watch out for him."

"I still think you should give him a chance, but if he does that again, you have my full permission to slap him upside the head, hard."

"Yes…"

**xXxXxXx**

**End Of Chapter**

**Hello again peeps! ****This is, again, a transitional chappie! -sighs- But trust me, it's all ****leading**** up to a major turning point. ****Only a few people have actually been reading these author notes, I can tell, because very few people have actually been inserting the password into their review!**

**No password no review reply! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**Oh, and the random names that I came up with are ones that I just thought up, or found on the internet. So… yeah…**

**Exactly 2,049 words in this chapter, not including author notes.**

**Password 2****nd**** half**** -your favorite Naruto character-**

**Now, the Thanks corner!**

**(You know who you are) : You have me partially convinced about who you want the stalker to be**** through your extensive PM****… but I'm still not to****o**** sure. ****What would happen? ****How would Naruto react if he found out that they were together? Probably pretty badly. You have more convincing to do…**

**(People who wanted the stalker to be Neji or Gaara) : Gah! I'm sorry! SORRY! –runs away from**** arrows being shot- AGGHHHHHH! 0**

**Oh, and for people who want to know, the Akatsuki Are going to involved LATER into the story. No, we will not be giving out a lot of plot hints. ****ITACHI IS NOT THE STALKER!!!**

**REMEMBER: IF THIS STORY IS ON YOUR STORY ALERTS, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO ASK US ONE REASONABLE QUESTION, AND WE WILL ANSWER. IF THE QUESTION HOWEVER, IF TO DIRECT, WE WILL EDIT OUR ANSWERS IN ORDER TO NOT GIVE AWAY THE PLOT TO****O**** MUCH.**

**Yeah, s****o, I have another question too.**

**IMPORTANT**

**Here's the poll for this chapter.**

_**Should we insert a lemon, once we get to that point in the story, or should we just skip it?!?**_

_**Keep in mind that we STILL don't know who the stalker will be, **_

_**BECAUSE NO ONE IS VOTING DAMNIT!!!!**_

_**SO VOTE!!!**_

Sam: Bill, I think that there should be a lemonade stand in this story, 'cause it's hot in here.

Bill: You mean like as in lemonade?

Sam: Yeah! With extra sugar to make it sweet!! And extra lemons to make it pucker my lips and give me a punch!

Bill: Idiotic sicko.

Sam: Huh? What did I do now?

Bill: -Glares Sasuke-style-

Sasuke: Hey…!

Review! –Cheesy smile- (6 reviews before next update will be posted.)


	7. In Which There Is An Inner Talk

**Again, we're Extremely sorry for the late update! SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!!!!**

**Read the A/N at the bottom please!**

**Disclaimer: Us No own Naruto…. Only this plot**** line of evilness****'- -' /**

**(review-we're watching you from under the desk…) **

**Ideas and suggestion for the story to be sent in PMs please.**

**Our new C2 is up, 'The Best Cherry Blossoms'. ****Obviously ****Sakux****----**** stories. Tell us if you want your stories to be submitted****, or if you want to be a staff member!!**

**And now...**

**Chapter 7 : In Which There Is An Inner Talk**

**xXxXxXx**

Sakura stepped into the dimly lit room with a sigh. _I really wish Kiba would give up__ and just ask her out already. Aren't we supposed to be the grown-ups now? Geez…_

Kakashi was lying weakly on the bed, too tired to move much, with a few stray shuriken and kunai embedded in various places on his body. He seemed to be sleeping.

_Well, _she thought dryly, _at least he isn't unconscious like last time. I swear, I think his teammates let him get hurt just enough to get him into the hospital when they can, just because they know I won't let him out for a day or two.__ Twisted isn't it? Hah-ha-ha. Wonderful._

_**They're big meanies.**_

_Yeah, they are. But who can blame them. Three words can sum him up. Cool, but irritating._

_**I hear you on that!**__** Damn RIGHT!**_

_Three Words__Three __Little __Words!_

_**I don't like him, wasting his precious energy like that.**_

_Like what?_

_**Look, Dobe!**_

Kakashi was now hunched over his book, staring at it. Like he was away from it for to long and missed gazing upon it's horrific pages made up of graphic, sexually misleading themes and characters written by none other that the 'King of the Perverts' himself.

_Sheesh._

_**Honestly, they should just start a fan-club for perversion. **_

_That would probably work… until they decided __to go__ on group 'field trips' and the like…__and I can only shudder at the thoughts of what their club 'contests' would be like. _

(A/N – Story spark here! Watch for a possible future oneshot! XD)

_**Hey, I just thought of a dare for myself!**_

_Huh? Wait, what?_

**_A DARE for ME to DO because I'm bored_**

_Okay…_

**_This will be fun…_**

_Umm, can I ask what your 'dare' is?_

**_I'm gonna see if I can say 50 curse words in about 20 or so of my next sentences! Whoo yeah! This will be fun_**

_Right. I'll leave you to do that now. I have something that I need to do._

Sakura briskly strode over to the bed and whacked Kakashi on the wrist. "Stop. Reading. That… Now."

Kakashi looked up at her with a sad attempt at imitating her puppy dog eyes. "Why-y? It's interesting and educational."

"Because I said so." Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to know what's really educational that you can learn from that book?"

"What?"

"How I can finally have someone with which to physically test the methods of various weapon and mental torture techniques that Tsunade-sensei and Ibiki-san taught me… now those… are **interesting**. I have the capability of making Neji Hyuga cry like a baby that got it's candy stolen. Want to try me?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Kakashi flinched slightly, knowing what she probably meant by that.

"No thanks."

Slowly he slipped the small orange book into his vest pocket, (the Chunin vest was currently set by the bright blue flowers on the end table beside the bed and next to the window).

"That's much better. Why don't we get started? Where does it hurt the most?"

Kakashi pondered this thought for a few seconds before replying, "I think… pretty much everywhere."

**xXxXxXx**

**Sorry its so short, my power was out for a week, and I couldn't write it by hand because we couldn't see. And every time I even tried to write it down, the piece of paper that I was holding next to the candle caught on fire… argg. So annoying! I'll try to make the next chapter longer! Thankies much & cookies for all!!!!!**

**Sam: Wow Bill! What's going to happen now?**

**Bill: Hmmmm.**

**Sam: Well?**

**Bill: I see reviews in the authoresses's future… soon.**

**Sam: WOW! I hope he's physic!**

**Crazilyinsanelady: Me too…. –puppy dog eyes- Review Please! I only got 4 for the last chappie, and I need haggles. –frowns and sniffles sadly-**

**xXxXxXx**

**As promised, here was the 6th chapter… Yeah. I got a headache last night from the stupid fucking tornado sirens. Damn them! Anyway, most people are starting to lean towards Sasuke being the stalker, so Vote! (Sorry to FakeCompassion – If you hate him that much, get more SasuSaku haters to R&R&VOTE!) 0 Remember, we're watching you! VOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTEVOTE**


	8. In Which There Is Slight Evilness

**Sorry for the late update again. My/Our life sucks right now. I have bronchitis (CIL) and cannot stop COUGHING! I need a hug…. Please…? –puppy dog eyes- And Hex has a cold… -Hex sniffles-**

**Disclaimer to Naruto: Notice the ****Dis**** part, as in not, as in ME NO OWN DAMNIT!**

**Naruto Rox!**

**This chapter's password: -Your response to the line above.-**

**Our C2 : The Best Cherry Blossoms – Obviously SakuraX----- stories, the best.**

**-Sneezes- I guess somebody is talking about me… or maybe I'm just allergic to something in my living room… Or maybe it's the song I'm listening to right now… -ha-ha-**

**Song : All Star **

**By: Smash Mouth**

…_**She**__** was looking kind of **__**dumb**_

_**With her finger and her thumb**_

_**In the shape of an **__**'L'**__** on her **__**forehead**__**… **_

**Remind you of anybody before Shippuuden…? Hm?**

**Chapter 7 : In Which There Is Slight Evilness**

**xXxXxXx**

"Everywhere?"

"Everywhere."

"Okay then, how about this question before I get started."

"Hm?"

"-sigh- Fine."

Sakura grabbed the dirty gray kunai in his shoulder, pulled it out slowly (it made a **really **nasty spulrching sound), then pushed him down onto the bed again with two fingers on his arm when he winced slightly at the noise that came from his shoulder.

"Sharp, hm?"

"…ow."

"Exactly."

After a pile of a dozen or so bloody weapons had accumulated on the tray next to her, Sakura asked her old sensei another question.

"So, Kakashi-sensei."

"Ow… what?"

"How did they manage to hit you? Usually you dodge pretty quickly…"

"Let's just not talk about that, okay?"

Sakura frowned and glanced up at his masked face. "What, did you overuse your Sharingan again? Baka. How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? You're going to go blind as a bat, like Itachi is."

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "Yeah, but not anytime soon. Besides, you're working on that little hitch, aren't you?"

_Baka. Just because I'm working on it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to solve the problem._

"I've only got the general concept down. Anyways, if you'd not be late to our meetings for once in your damn pathetic life, I might actually get some work done."

"Oh."

"Oh? Is that all you can say? Hmph. Why do I even try to help you in the first place? Geez…"

Kakashi smirked and began to quote her like one of her medical students. "You help people to try and justify the killing you do on the battlefield, to even it out with your healings. You don't want your precious comrades to fall down in beside you, so you help them to become stronger. You in turn make yourself stronger because you want to protect the people you care about."

After a moment of silence, accompanied by only the beeping of the machines and the outside bustle of the hospital that was quieted by soundproof walls, Sakura lifted her head up and looked Kakashi in the eye. "Exactly. You've made your point."

"Ha."

"Don't get to ahead of yourself…this one might hurt a little. Its in there pretty deep… and I think its barbed too. Oh well, I can just heal you afterwards." "What?" Sakura firmly grabbed hold of the long, barbed kunai and yanked it out.

"OW! GOD DAMN! What the **FUCK** was that?"

"A 5½ inch, barbed, rusted, dirty, kunai embedded in your leg right below your knee. That must have hurt." Sakura mused. "...ow." "That's what I thought."

Sakura laid her hands on top of the wound and began to send her chakra throughout his body to check for internal wounds. Miraculously, none of his bones were broken, only bruised, and the only other internal injury was that his left triceps muscle was slightly torn, but other than that he was in pretty good shape. "Okay."

After that, Sakura got on with the process of healing him.

xXxXxXx

Skip 37 min.

xXxXxXx

"All done!"

Sakura got out some of the thin wire that she often used on Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba and bound him tightly to the bed. After checking that both of his hands and feet were tied securely in did she reach for a washcloth lying on the side table. "Sakura, what the hell are you doing?" Sakura smiled sweetly at him at dunked the washcloth in a bucket of soapy water. "New procedure. You signed the form with out reading it completely again, dobe."

"Wha?"

"You signed it, and forgot to check the box!" Sakura crowed.

"I get payback now. So ha, ha ,ha Kakashi-_sensei._"

"What exactly **is** this new procedure that Tsunade-sama came up with?"

"Well," Sakura began as she made the signs for a silencing jutsu (Kakashi's eyes widened), "you see, sometimes we find that our patients don't properly get rid of the grime after they're treated…"

"Where is this conversation going?" Sakura ignored him and put the silencing jutsu around the room so no one from the outside could here them. "Remember when you and I went on that mission to the Mist Country about a year ago?"

He nodded; he didn't think that he'd ever be able to forget that mission. He and Sakura were delivering a scroll offering the idea of the Chunin exams to be held there that time around. Sakura had been attack on the way back, and was entirely paralyzed from her eyes down.

**(A/N- She could still breathe and stuff though…) **

She couldn't even talk for two days. He'd had to undress her _**completely**_, except for her underwear (meaning that her bra came off too because of a cut), and bandage her wounds for her until she was able to heal them. He had tried to lighten the situation by teasing her unmercifully for two whole days. Running his fingers tenderly along her sides, neck, and legs. Afterwards, when she told him exactly where he could put his damned fingers and threatened to castrate him, he told her 'Well, I'm just happy that none of your wounds got infected.' she had shut up about it. By unspoken agreement they hadn't told anyone about the embarrassing incident.

Kakashi's eyes widened when she pulled out a needle and directed it to his arm. He recognized it as a fast-acting paralysis potion.

"This is my payback. **Burn.**"

Kakashi frantically tried to wriggle out of the wires that were binding him. "At least let me see the form to make sure you aren't lying about this…"

Sakura daintily picked up the paper he had signed, saying that he would allow him to fully treat him and waved it in front of his face. She was smirking with a vague evil glint in her eyes.

She pointed to a small section near the bottom.

_IMPORTANT!_

_NEW !_

_The following is recommended for patients receiving treatment for severe wounds._

_A medic, if desired, will wash __all__ of your wounds throughly and professionally to further enable the process of complete healing during later treatments._

_Check within the box if you do not desire this treatment. _

At that moment Kakashi's only thought was, _**'SHIT, IS SHE SERIOUS!'**_

**xXxXxXx**

**So sorry for the last chapter, I was planning on posting them as one chapter to make it longer but someone –glares at brother who is cowering in fear near the corner of a dungeon- "accidentally" deleted it.**

**I'm planning to post a new oneshot soon, I got the idea on Valentines Day and wrote it down. That was a good thing, because I completely forgot about it! I found the piece of paper under my bed yesterday and began to type it up. At the moment its called 'What?' but the title might change later. SasuSaku pairing. –dodges knives thrown by FakeCompassion- AHHHH! –runs off-**

**Sam: Review!**

**Bill: Or I'll eat your brains! –cackles evilly-**

**Sam: -sweatdrops-**


	9. In Which There Is An Unexpected Surprise

**So, ummmm….yeah. We're a little bit late, eh Hex?**

**Hex: -cowers in front of readers with bloody katanas- Eep!**

**Both: -slowly walk backwards, then turn and sprint-**

**Readers: GET BACK HERE AND POST THE NEXT GOD-DAMNED CHAPTER YOU BITCHES! –Throw pitchforks-**

**CIL&Hex: -still running- Don't forget to revieeeewwwwwwww! –FALL OFF CLIFF-**

**Disclaimer: Us no ownie Naruto-baka-kun.**

**Hex: But you can't stop me from stealing Kakashi! –Grabs Kakashi and runs off-**

**CIL (Looking at friend): HA! I TOLE you Itachi wasn't really evil! I WIN!! MUHHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! (To find out my reasoning behind this theory, go to Naruto fan (.) com (wi/out spaces) and download Naruto Shippuuden Chapter 397. It's VERY interesting, plus you find out who Tobi really is! …Dun…dun….DUN!**

**Chapter Eight: In Which There Is An Unexpected Surprise**

**xXxXxXx**

"-Giggle-"Sakura laughed at the look on her old sensei's face. "This'll be good. Ha!" Kakashi stared in horror at her hand, which was slowly inching its way up his chest to his mask, ready to pull it down.

(Meanwhile…..)

Two figures just North of Konoha were standing under a tree with bodies strewn around them. The shadows were cast over them, hiding their faces from view. If you looked carefully, you could see a half-open dark cloak hanging around the shorter one's shoulders. The taller figure was holding onto a large sword that looked, in the shadows, like it had small spikes over the sides and front. The bottom half of the strange weapon was wrapped haphazardly in bandages.

The clearing was splattered with their enemies' blood left over from the fight that had been finished only minutes ago.

"See?" One grunted roughly. "I told you this wouldn't work. They didn't have it anyway." He wiped his forehead off with a cloak stolen from the dead body of an ANBU.

"Hn." The other person slowly turned in the direction of the village and narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

From where they were standing they could see someone on guard duty, jumping around a section of Konoha's perimeter, looking for trouble in his area. "Heh. Looks like they're beginning to trust him again. Shouldn't be to long now… I can't wait for the first fight. Heh…How soon will the Hokage give her the mission we'll intercede on to perform the memory restoration jutsu?"

"A few days or so… We'll return tomorrow and leave a fake trail for them to follow." The other man nodded in calm acceptance.

"Right."

"Let's go." Both of them leapt up into the trees, leaving no sign that they had been there at all. Only from the stories of the dead ANBU's bodies would they be able to figure out who had stopped there.

(Back at the Hospital…)

"No, Sakura! What are you hoping to accomplish by this? Revenge isn't everything!" Kakashi recalled the day he said those very same words to his pupil. The same day he'd gotten the offer from the Sound Four to join Orouchimaru's army of Sound ninjas. But he wouldn't remind her of that, Sasuke was back, and that's all that mattered to her. As long as he was away from Orouchimaru, she didn't really care who he was in love with anymore.

Sakura smiled and hooked her fingers under the edge of his mask. Unhurriedly she began to pull it down his face. When she was done, and the offending mask that had mystified everyone for so long was pooled around his neck, Sakura raised an eyebrow, then reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a camera phone.

"Gah!"

The shinobi began to try and wiggle his way out of the ropes. His ex-student clicked away with her camera.

"Sweet, sweet blackmail….-giggle- Naruto will love this! "

(In another part of the village…)

"A-a-…..ACHOO!" Naruto almost fell out his seat at Ichiraku. "Geez that was a big one. Maybe someone's talking about me."

"Sheesh Naruto. Are you getting a cold?" Ino started to berate Naruto on the benefits of being in good shape. "….and you won't get any of the good missions! How can you possibly even **plan** to-"

Naruto grabbed a napkin and blew his nose. Ino stared. "Naruto! How dare you do that in front of a delicate, pretty lady! Why, I should get Shika to-"

"SsnnnOOORRRE."

"So much for that idea. And you CAN'T be DELICATE Ino; you're a kunoichi for Kami's sake. –Snort-" Naruto set off laughing and pounding his fist on the counter. "AH-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Good one Shikamaru! Ino's a delicate lady! –Snort-"

Choji looked at them, shrugged, and stuffed his face with BBQ potato chips.

Ebisu primly looked down on them from his perch on a building across the street. "How dreadfully rude…" He then departed to resume 'the most enlightening learning experience since the invention of the jutsu.' Yes, you guessed correctly. This 'activity' consists of peeking in the women's bathhouses…while masturbating heavily and reading Icha Icha Paradise, Super Special Hot X Edition.

"Yes…let's see here…I'll hit the one on 5th street next…-blush- Lady Hokage was in there last time… -nosebleed-"

**(ANYWAY….**Back to Kakashi and Sakura…)

When she'd taken all the pictures she needed she hooked his mask back up, then reached both her hands around the back of his neck and leaned over him leisurely. "Kakashi….. You should know by now… you can't mess with me and get away with it for very long…"

The fingers on her right hand slid down the back of his neck to his shoulder blades, where they brushed softly against his skin. Kakashi shook slightly when she brushed her nose against his cheek. "…Sakura?"

She smiled at him, with a hint of an evil smirk mixed in. "Do you really think that I'd-"

A knock on the door sounded through the room. "Haruno-san? Lady Hokage requests your presence in her office immediately! The messenger said that it's an emergency, and to come as quickly as possible! Haruno-san, are you there? Haruno-san? Haruno-san?? Hello?! " Sakura sat up quickly.

The pink-haired woman growled and dispelled the sound-proof jutsu. "Coming." Sakura pulled out a kunai and slashed through the wires binding Kakashi to the bed and glared at him fiercely. "You got off easy this time, sensei. But don't expect that to happen again Hatake."

She turned and strolled to the door. "I'll see you later."

Sakura nodded at the nurse as she walked past her and down the stairs. "Thank you. Don't worry about the patient in that room. He's probably already jumped out the window by now anyway."

The nurse blanched.

"Oh, don't worry, he's a ninja. And I already healed him too."

The nurse nodded in understanding and went in to prepare the room for the next patient.

(On her way down the stairs…)

_I wonder what happened. Could we have gotten some alarming information from on of the village's spies?_

_**I bet it's the Akatsuki.**_

_I hope not._

_**We'll find out soon, you're almost there.**_

_Right._

Sakura sent chakra to her feet and sped off, jumping onto the roof-tops and crossing them quickly. In the midst of her movement, she swept out her ANBU cloak while she was in a dark shadow and no one was watching and pulled it on. Then she secured her mask and hid her chakra signature before heading towards her village's leader.

Her mask was specially made, specifically, with a lightning streak (in a darker red paint than what was usually used on standard ANBU masks) starting just above where her right eyebrow would be, through her right eye, and leading over the edge ¾ of the way down her right cheek. The way that her mask was designed let her enemies know who they were dealing with, and demanded respect from everyone else.

As she was bounding over the buildings, Sakura noticed another person (also in standard ANBU attire) heading toward her. She recognized the chakra as one of her friends, Hoshi. Hoshi was one of her 'other' friends, that her childhood ones didn't know anything about.

After Sakura had (secretly) taken the ANBU test and (even more secretly) passed, Tsunade ordered that she not tell her friends she was the only ANBU among their group. The council called her 'The Chikara' or 'Chikara-sama' because of her power. They did this because Sakura was the most powerful person in their village, not including Naruto in Kyuubi form. Sakura didn't really care much about being called those names; they didn't annoy her all that much. What bothered her was how her friends idolized 'her'.

They were always talking about 'Chikara's amazing powers' (Naruto), 'Her way with weapons, even the most complicated ones' (Tenten), 'Her famed accuracy' (Kiba), and her 'Beauty, that is supposed to blind you when she removes her ANBU mask'.

It was scary, even Naruto went strangely quiet when they discussed her and her powers. Shikamaru had once joked that 'If Naruto yells at Chikara-sama, he better get Sakura in there quick to fix him up.' Naruto had looked him straight in the eyes and said, 'I wouldn't yell at her, she's the most powerful ninja in the village. I don't want to defeat her, just learn from her as her student, and meet her someday.' They ALL wanted to meet her, soon they would. Tsunade planned to let them know her secret identity before long.

After all, it had been over three and a half years since she went partially undercover too. She was getting tired of lying to her friends. And having to hold back in training to not let anyone know who she really was. Hoshi was the only ANBU who knew her real name. When they were on a mission with Sakura as 'Chikara', she called her 'Chikara-sama.' Other wise it was just 'Sakura-san.'

In conclusion:

It sucked.

Badly.

But not being higher in power and jutsu than the Hokage herself. That part was freakin' awesome! If not slightly scary.

"Hoshi-san. Are you heading to the Hokage tower too?"

"Have you been summoned too, Chikara-sama?"

"Yes. What do you think happened?"

"No idea."

The two kunoichi (one famous, one not so much) continued their journey until they reached the Hokage tower. They took one big jump from the rooftop to the window and suddenly appeared near Tsunade's desk.

"These two," the Lady Hokage pointed at the pair. "Will be your instructors in your preparations for the upcoming ANBU tests your plan to take."

"Do we get to learn their names, or will we just follow their orders? It only seems fair that we know who they are, Tsunade-baa-chan." A person behind Sakura protested. A vein popped on Tsunade's forehead.

"You'll do damned well what I tell you to, Brat!" Sakura froze at the chakra signals that were being uncovered following her sensei's outburst. She hadn't noticed the particular ninjas earlier, just that they were familiar and there were 11 others besides her old sensei's. They hadn't seen her mask yet, that was a good thing.

"Tsunade-sama," She murmured softly, leaning towards. "Surely you cannot be serious about this…"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? ARE YOU SAYING I CAN'T EVER BECOME AN ANBU LIKE YOU? I WILL, **BELIEVE IT!!**"

The next moment, he heard a dangerous voice say softly, "No….if you cannot control your mouth, you do not even deserve to be in the ANBU ranks." Her voice echoed power, and her friend's eyes widened.

Obviously they hadn't expected an ANBU to be overly nice, but they weren't exactly expecting the vibe coming from her either. It was the vibe of a dangerous ninja who would not hesitate to kill any enemy who stood before her, and their priceless reaction made her smile under the streaked mask.

When she slowly straightened up and turned gracefully to face the group standing on the West side of the office, they stood up straight. Their eyes locked on her mask, and upon seeing the red lightning scar, they each bowed deeply, staring at her in pure shock. Most of them recovered quickly.

"Chi-Chikara-s-sama?" Hinata managed to stutter out after a minute or so.

"Yes?" Her voice was low, just loud enough to hear without straining.

"W-Will you b-b-be our training m-master?"

"One of them." Tsunade interrupted. "The other will be Night here."

"I now see why you are honored so much, Chikara-sama." While they were bowing, Tenten was murmuring barely above exhaling, so only they people within four feet of her could hear her. "She really is scary…with that horrible scar on her mask."

The others smiled a little, because they knew that Tsunade and the others wouldn't have been able to hear the joke. Only a hawk could even possibly even pick it up from the other side of the room.

"Students…" 'Chikara-sama' voiced her reply calmly while looking levelly at them.

"Yes Chikara-sama?" They chanted together, uncurling to stare at her.

"It would do you good, Tenten-san, to remember in the future, to never underestimate any ninja no matter how little you know about them…or think of their appearance. It is not a good habit to get into, and that is how you lost your preliminary fight in your first Chunin exam. I must compliment though, on your last fight before you were approved for the rank Chunin. I have used my knowledge of your weapon skills to aide me more than once in my travels."

Tsunade chuckled. "I assume you'll take them on then?"

"Yes…on one condition…"

**xXxXxXx**

**Btw: Does anyone know if Root (as in Sai was in Root ANBU) stand for something? I've been wondering about that a lot lately and it's driving me crazy.**

**Replies please, and while you're at it, REVIEW??**

**xXxXxXx**

**Notes: Hoshi means 'Star'. Chikara means 'power. **

**Code names are as follows; Sakura: Chikara, Hoshi: Night.**

**And, YES, the whole Rookie Nine, (Minus Sakura & Sai), were there. For future reference, Sai doesn't work with them anymore, he's in Root ANBU.**

**And, YES, the Akatsuki will be involved in the next chapter or so.**

**And, YES, we know that we promised a longer chapter than usual, but CIL-san had a HELL-FUCKING-LOT of homework today, and the MAP Test. (Missouri Assessment Program, which we do not own, or the test either.)**

**Thankies much to all of you who reviewed on the last chappie! XD**

**This chapter's password: Hoshi.**

**Sam:-reading next chapter-**

**CIL: HEY, you're not allowed to do that! –Hex snatches paper-**


	10. In Which There Is Harsh Training

**sighs Yes we know that we promised and early update, but….**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto-kun, only this twisted plot line. (Soon to become more twisted….)**

**Blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, and blank. So what did you reviewers (and read but not reviewers shame on you!) think of the last chapter? Well, it'll definitely be getting more complicated before this is over…. CIL and I have been thinking, and have decided that we will leave a cliffy at the end of the story, and pick it up on the sequel. To the person who PMed us asking if any main characters will die, we reply **

"**We can't tell you that yet, because only half of the main characters (that we will be focusing on) have been introduced yet."**

**-hint-**

**Oh, and also, many people have been forgetting about our 'Add this story to your alert list and we'll answer a question about this story as long as we don't have to give away deaths, plot twists, and things like that.' policy thingy.**

**From now on whenever Sakura has her ANBU mask on we're going to just refer to her as 'Chikara'.**

**Add and ask! Wow…that was cheesy.**

**And now onto chapter nine, or is it eight…? shrugs**

**Chapter Nine: In Which There Is Harsh Training **

**xXxXxXx**

"And that is…?"

"That what we talked about earlier is not revealed until….. –she twisted her head towards the window-"

The special jonin behind her looked around, puzzled.

_Understandable. _Tsunade thought, hands laced together under her chin.

"Very well."

"Arigato."



Chikara nodded and turned towards her students. "Students," she began softly. They turned towards her and strained to hear her voice. "You will address me as Chikara-sama or Chikara-sensei. I will expect you by seven AM tomorrow by the front gates. Lateness will not be tolerated."

Naruto and Shikamaru shivered, wondering what exactly she would do to them if they were late.

"Hai, Chikara-sensei!"

xXxXxXx The Next Morning 6:58 AM xXxXxXx

"Man, is she gonna be late?"

Kiba and Naruto were whining.

Correction: They HAD been whining, since they had gotten there.

"Relax." Shikamaru muttered, "Its not even seven yet."

"But it will be soon!"

"Yeah! Whatever happened to ANBU are always on time?"

"Exactly!"

"…" (Neji)

"…" (Shino)

"…Whatever happened to your mouth to make it open so much? Dobe." (Shikamaru)

"Hey! Who are you calling stupid you smartass?"

"Baka yourself."

"A-ruff!" (Shippuuden Akamaru)

Suddenly a beep sounded, and everyone jumped.

"What was that?" Ino gulped. "Do you think that was a bomb?"

"No Ino, that was my watch. I set it to go off at seven. She's late." Choji waved his wrist at Ino.

-WHOOSH-



All 14 of them fell unceremoniously backwards onto their asses, or, in Choji's case, their stomachs.

"OW!" Naruto shrieked.

"The First rule: Always expect the unexpected."

"Huh?" Ino blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly."

They heaved themselves up and stared at the cloaked figure.

"The second rule: Silence is everything the only exception to that rule is if your assignment is to be loud. In your case, you all need to work on your skills. I've been up in that tree over there (she pointed) letting out a miniscule chakra flare every 15 minutes for the past hour and a half and none of you located, or even noticed me."

Silence.

"Also, while you are in the course of my training methods you should always remember the third rule: NEVER assume you are safe."

"So you mean you'll be popping up at random times to 'get' us?" Rock Lee questioned.

"Precisely. NEVER assume you are safe…"

All of them felt a shiver of clod realization roll its way down their spines. This wouldn't be easy.

"No, it won't be."

They started. "H-Huh? You can read our minds too?" Ino shook.

"No, not exactly. One of the skills you will learn is how to read body language and facial expressions down to the finest detail. You will also learn how to properly control your own. (she glared at Kiba and Naruto)"

"Alright."

"Hn."

The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. "So basically, I'm going to turn the lot of you into paranoid freaks over the next few months. The real challenge is, don't show it."

"Oh."



"Now, give me 50 laps around Konoha."

"All of them except Rock Lee, who was already running, stared at her.

"Do you have a **problem **with my endurance training, students?"

"No, Chikara-sensei." They dutifully replied.

xXxXxXx After laps are run xXxXxXx

The group was standing next to the gates and panting. Only Rock Lee wasn't.

Chikara appeared again.

"Done? Good. Over the next few sessions I'll be assessing your individual skills to construct specific training routines."

"What?" Naruto whispered to Shikamaru.

"-sigh- She'll be spying on you while you train."

"Oh."

"100 push-ups, 3 more laps, then 250 sit-ups. Get started." They swore that they could hear humor in her voice, did she enjoy torturing them? (A/N: And the answer is…YES!)

xXxXxXx Later, when Chikara finally lets them go xXxXxXx

The bedraggled group of ninja collapsed into their seats at Ichiraku. "Arggg. I think I'm gonna…"

Kiba wearily reached over and patted his panting dog on the head, panting himself. "I didn't know I even could hurt this much from just running…and push-ups…"

"And sit-ups."

"She's a god-damn slave driver! Mrgghh."

"Friends! We must use the power of our youth to overcome the hard obstacles in our training and defeat Chikara-sama tomorrow! Youth is our power! Youth!" (A/N: Guess who yelled that…)

Teuchi chuckled while Ayame put their ramen on the counter. "No offense, but I doubt you'll be able to take her down anytime soon, even with all your training."

"Nani? Why not?" Tenten looked confused. "Not even if we all attack at the same time?"

"Well…after last week."

"what about last week?"

Naruto, suddenly re-energized, popped up and threw himself on the large bowl of ramen in front of him and gulped it down. Everyone else went at theirs slowly—they were afraid they would puke.

"You mean you guys didn't hear about her latest mission?" Teuchi looked shocked. "I thought you were up-to-date stalkers?"

"Apparently not."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't so surprised. They haven't told the public or ninja force yet. I only heard about it because one of her team members happened to eat here as soon as they got back and he'd turned in his mission report."

Hinata sat up eagerly. "W-What did she do n-now?"

"I can't tell you, its confidential. You'll have to ask her tomorrow."

"Awwwww!"

xXxXxXx The next day: at the training grounds xXxXxXx

"Chikara-sama?" Neji questioned, staring at a tree. The rest swung their head to look over there.

"Good. You have improved, Neji-san. Yes?" A black figure seemed to materialize out of the tree and strolled over to them.

"Yesterday we heard that you had an important mission…"

"That was classified as confidential!" Choji added.

"Would you mind telling us why it was so important?" Neji continued.

"And," Naruto exclaimed. "why all our senseis stopped talking when we approached them earlier?"

Silence.

"Teuchi? And where is Ino?"

"Hospital appointment…"

Silence.

"Very well…"

"Yes!" Kiba clapped his hand over his mouth quickly.

"My team and I were in the heart of Oto last week, scouting… when we happened to come across Orouchimaru's new base."

Some of them glanced at Sasuke, noticing that he was somewhat tense.

"To make a long story short: My team members battled and killed Kabuto, I fought Orouchimaru and eradicated him, the nuisance he was. Then the rest tried to escape, but we either killed or captured them. The captured ones are in the high-security vault now, being held for questioning."

"R-really? W-Wow!" Hinata stuttered out.

Sasuke's eyes were narrowed. _Is she really that powerful? And to be able to not acquire and life-threatening injuries?_

"Now you are informed of the basics, shall we begin training?"

They nodded. "Hai, Chikara-sama!"

"Good. Lee!"

He stood straighter and saluted. "Hai!?"

"Take off your training weights. You will be my example today."

Rock Lee leaned over and quickly unhooked the weights hanging on his legs.

"Attack me on my signal. After you attack 25 times, stop." He nodded and disappeared.

"By the end of your training, you will be able to do this, with me as the attacker. Now!"

There was a blur, then a sliver of green pelted towards her from the trees.

_How will she avoid that?_

Then Chikara seemed to flicker in and out of place, never seeming to move except for one time when just her right arm up to the elbow exited their sight, becoming invisible for a half-second at a time. Then, about 5 seconds later Rock Lee stopped in front of her and bowed extremely low, low enough to be interpreted as a bow to a Kage. His friends looked at him in confusion.

"Chikara-sama, you are truly amazing!"

"Please, get up Lee."

She then proceeded to briefly fight each one of them and examine their skills.

xXxXxXx End of Training xXxXxXx

"We are done for today. I will se you tomorrow." Chikara vanished into thin air.

On the way to Choji's favorite BBQ restaurant Naruto tripped and fell, landing on Rock Lee's foot.

"Are you all right Naruto?" He helped him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. All those laps…" He groaned.

They made their way inside and grabbed a large booth and ordered.

"So," Kiba muttered, "Why did you bow so low to her earlier Lee?"

Lee's eyes began to shine. "Guy-sensei's words of praise were true! She is much faster than he or I! I am truly lucky to have such an exemplary master!"

"Faster than you? Are you sure?" Tenten's eyes were widened like she'd been told her face was turning orange. "Really?"

"Yes! Her speed is legendary! Guy-sensei says it is very possible that she will become the current Hokage's advisor when she retires from ANBU!"

"Naruto just choked on his piece."

"A-ruff!"

"HEY GUYS!! GUESS WHAT!!"

Ino came running up to them in record time. "GUESS WHA-AT!"

"What?"

" Tsunade-sama is going to ask our sensei to be the next Hokage after she retires from ANBU! Chikara-sama, our SENSEI might be the SIXTH Hokage!"

"He choked again…"

"A-ruff-ruff!"



Naruto spit out the pork in his mouth and shrieked loudly, drawing attention from the rest of the building.

**xXxXxXx**

**So, yeah, I'm mean. Plot twist over the next few chappies. Sakura will be coming up as 'Sakura' soon, We promise! **

**And we know that we're kind of making Chikara seem super-powerful and all that, but you'll (hopefully) get it later.**

**Ciao for now!**

**Sam: NNNOOOOO!**

**Bill: What?**

**Sam: NARUTO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEXT HOKAGE IN THIS STORY!**

**Bill: How do you know that?**

**Sam: BECAUSE I CHANGED IT ON THE WRITTEN AND TYPED PLOTS?**

**Us: That was… you? **

**CIL: -pulls out can of oil-**

**Hex: -pulls out boxes of matches-**

**REVIEWERS GET COOKIES **


	11. In Which Jiraya Dies

**Dun, Dun, Dun!**

**I know, I'm sssooo evil. But, I figured, you know if he's already dead in the series, why not kill him now? Heh, sssoooo.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.**

**So, how should I make Naruto react? Review and telllllll!!**

**NOTE: Since Sakura and Jiraya are both in his mind, I'll just use regular quotes **"…."

**xXxXxXx**

"How long has Sakura been an ANBU?" Ino asked. "And why didn't she tell us?"

"Well," Shikamaru sighed. "She's gone on a lot of undercover……missions lately."

"You say missions like that is a bad thing Shikamaru-san."

"Well, she doesn't exactly enjoy them."

"Why –munch- not?" Choji looked confused.

"Sakura had to go along with Chikara-sensei when they killed Oto." He stated bluntly.

"What?" Naruto's voice was flat.

"And that's not all either, but you have to **swear** you won't tell **anyone except Sakura that you know what she had to do to get them inside once they got reinforcements**, because Tsunade-sama will kill me because she told me not to tell you guys once you found out about her rank status."

"Fine. We all swear." Ino nodded and looked around at her group of nodding friends. "Tell us."

"I **refuse** to go into any detail but –he shuddered- let's just say Orochimaru and Kabuto weren't gay after all.."

"WHAT!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?"

"MY YOUTHFUL BLOSSOM HAS BEEN-" Shikamaru cut lee off, his eye twitching.

"Shut it. Now."

An ANBU appeared in front of them and murmured, "Naruto-san…"

"Yes?" Everyone turned to look at the ninja. "What is it?"

"Sakura-sama has asked me to give you a message, do you wish for your companions to hear it also?"

"Uh, sure…"

"She says 'I'm so, so sorry I can't save him Naruto-kun, he was already on the brink of death when they brought him in. He asked me to tell you something of great importance in private after the funeral when you calmed down. Don't let me forget. I'm so sorry.' At this point she projected her soul into her patient's mind as a last ditch effort to save him, but…"

"Who was she trying to save…?"

"I am not allowed to tell you, Naruto-san. But I can tell you that Sakura-sama is waiting for you in front of your apartment. I suggest that you should find her before she collapses from chakra depletion. That is all." The ANBU disappeared in a heartbeat.

"Let's go."

xXxXxXx

Flashback- Sakura and Jiraya inside his mind right before he died.

xXxXxXx

"I'm…dying?"

"Yes. Is there anything you want me to tell Naruto-kun or Tsunade-shisou for you?"

"Tell Tsunade… not to drink over my…death too much. And that the main character in my new series is based on her."

"And Naruto-kun?" Her voice grew softer as she smiled at the thought of her mentor's reaction.

"Tell him…who his father is and that….he would be proud of him…and that…he'll be a great Hokage someday."

"All right."

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"I know your…secret. And your brother and father…"

Sakura's face acquired a look of shock.

"You do?"

"Heh, I've always known. But I know that everything you do is actually to protect Konoha…and your friends. The third told me of your and your brother's mission too. Do me a favor and…finish it well."

"I will, Jiraya-sama."

She felt as if they were on the edge of a cliff and he was falling off the edge, teetering into oblivion.

"I'll take care of them, I promise."

The cliff disappeared, and he was lying flat on the grass, flower petals swirling around the empty field.

"Wait… I still have to choose a title for my new series…Damn."

Sakura materialized in front of him and stepped closer.

"How about… The Great Naruto Chronicles, eh Sakura?"

"Perfect. I'll make sure to tell your publisher for you tomorrow." She knelt down to him and placed a cold hand on his forehead.

His eyes closed slowly.

"Sleep." Sakura whispered. "You deserve it. You've done well."

She waited until his soul had completely faded away, leaving her alone in an empty blackness for the few seconds before she returned her soul to her mind. She woke up slowly, only to hear her mentor frantically screaming, and a solid buzzing sound from the heart monitor.

"GET ANOTHER MEDIC IN HERE! I'M GONNA TRY TO GET HIS HEART STARTED AGAIN!" The Hokage shrieked.

Sakura stood up, swaying slightly. She placed her hand on her mentor's wrist and spoke gently. "He told me to tell you that he loved you, Tsunade-shisou. You need to sit down now."

Sakura wound her way through the medics around the bed and shooed them all out. Then she guided the sobbing Hokage to the nearest chair.

"Shhhhh. Shhhh. It'll be alright."

xXxXxXx

Flashback-over

xXxXxXx

Sakura was standing in front of Naruto's apartment, leaning on the wall with her foot propped against the wall under her. **(A/N: Think cowboy position.)** Her face was turned up towards the sky, staring into nothing. It began to sprinkle rain.

_It seems as if the very heavens are crying…. Why aren't I? Is it because I'm strong enough not to… or to weak to admit to my feelings anymore? This is what my position has done to me. _A wry smirk found it's way onto her face underneath the rain, then faded as quickly as it had appeared.

And that's how they found her.

"Sakura-chan! What happened to you?" Naruto ran up to her. Everyone crowded around her and stared at the blank look on her face.

"Naruto… Is that you?" She turned to look at him. "I…I'm so sorry Naruto."

She toppled forward, then threw herself at her teammate, clutching his shirt and burying her face in it.

"Sakura-chan?"

"He died Naruto. He's gone. I…I was in his mind when he died, and …and I couldn't **do** anything!"

"Who died?"

"Jiraya!" She wailed.

"The Pervy Sage? Naw, he couldn't just up and die like that."

"But he did! He was fighting Pain, and then he got stabbed through the liver and shoulder, and then half his skull got crushed, and Madara used the Sharingan on him, and then both of his lungs collapsed, and then he teleported back but it was too late!" Sakura paused for a shaky breath. "And I couldn't save him, and Tsunade-shisou couldn't save him and then I went into his mind and he told me to tell you who your father was and that he would definitely be proud of you and then he said you'd be a great Hokage someday and then he named his new book series after you." She took another breath. "And then he said he knew my secrets and about my real family and, and, then he **died** while I was there in his mind Naruto! He _**DIED!**_ And I couldn't save him for you! He's just **gone**!"

xXxXxXx

Somewhere In Rain

xXxXxXx

"What!" A voice hissed. "What do you mean you want to remove the seal on your sister? Do you know what damage she could do?!" His briefly flashed the color of congealing blood.

"Hai, Father, but won't you do it eventually anyway? Wouldn't it be better to do it before it fully erodes?"



"Yes… perhaps you really are right." He contemplated. "Very well, take your partner to intercept her on her next mission and give her the revised plan. Also, check her summoning status. If she cannot summon Yuki, the alpha wolf, and Kirara the demonness cat we will postpone for another year and a half. Inform her of this."

"Yes Father. I will."

The cloaked figure bowed and turned to leave. Once out in the corridor he whispered, "Yes…Yes I will indeed. My sister will rejoin us at last." With that, he continued down the hall. "And I wonder…"

_What will her friends think of the great 'Chikara' once they know her darkest secrets…?_

**xXxXxXx**

**Yay me! Review and tell me who you think her family is! hint-read earlier author notes-hint-**

**Sam: How do I find out who it is!!**

**Bill: Read the author notes.**

**Sam: You Dumbass!**

**CIL-sama: Hey! The only dumbass in this story is Sakura's father, the bastard! **

**Sam: WHO IS HE!! AND WHY IS HE A DUMBASS!**

**CIL-sama: Not telling. And because I say so.**

**Sam: Bill?**

**Bill: Nope. You have to read the author notes of the previous chapters to find out, just like I did! REVIEW, PLEASE!!**


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